Winfield: The Singing Workshop

I have returned from my annual visit to the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS. Before I left, I made myself a promise to seek new things, in hopes this would make the experience more positive than it had been last year (see entry below).

I went to the Bluegrass Singing Vocal workshop as planned. The workshop was held in a Baptist Church near Winfield's downtown, about three blocks from the festival grounds.

Now, I don't own a single bluegrass album or CD (unless O Brother counts). The teacher, Chris Jones, used a number of "traditional" bluegrass songs as examples, but I had not heard a single one prior to the workshop.

The focus of the day was harmony singing. Bluegrass has its own unique approach to harmonies. It works more on a vocalists forming chords than on pure music theory. This worked out to be primarily ear training. Since I learn most music by ear, this was right up my alley.

Trivia alert — the names of the vocal parts in bluegrass singing are similar to the parts in choral singing - tenor, baritone, bass – but they don't mean the same thing. In the early days of bluegrass singing, only men sang, so only the names of male vocal parts are used. In modern bluegrass singing, a woman may sing the tenor part even if her voice is in the alto range.

The vocal parts are determined by the lead - that is, the melody. The tenor is a third from that, and the baritone is a fifth. But these two parts may either be above or below the lead - depending on the sound being sought.

The final exercise was to form groups and create our own harmonies. The teacher designated the groups in a somewhat hap-hazard manner, based on who was already sitting close together. I was grouped with high-school aged sisters, who are already performing semi-professionally.

Now, shortly before this exercise, someone asked how to achieve harmonies similar to the Lubin or Everly Brothers. The teacher allowed as how siblings had a certain advantage in harmonizing, both from nature and nurture (genetics would make their vocal chords very similar).

When the sisters and I grouped together, none of us could remember the melody of any of the songs the teacher had taught us during the day. I suggested we work with "Will the Circle Be Unbroken", thinking that would be a song we all knew.

Sure enough, it was. I immediately heard how well their voices combined, confirming what the teacher said about the sibling advantage. So, I suggested an arrangement where I would sing bass for the verse (so their harmony would be emphasized), then I would sing baritone for the chorus.

The teacher went around and checked on the groups. He gave us suggestions on our parts, and seemed to approve of my choice to sing bass on the verse.

After about 30 minutes of practice, the groups were given the opportunity to sing before the whole class. The sisters and I were the last ones to perform; we sang a cappella. The class applauded, so I guess we did alright.

I rode a shuttle back to the festival grounds. A woman who had sat next to me during the workshop happened to be on the same shuttle. She commented on the breadth of my singing range (on a good day, I can span 5-6 scales), and asked if I were a professional singer.

It would not be the last time the question would be posed during the week.

Next: the concerts